5.0 Ho timing

[jacobn4056.]

Hey people.
I have a bone original 95 mustang GT with the 302.
Would I be right by saying the car should run with the spout connector off if timing is perfect? And to get it perfect.

I made my 10 degree mark on number one cylinder compression stroke. The car runs good and perfect as new. But I feel like the ecu or electronics is bringing it to that perfect timing in a way that may not be exactly right. The car doesn’t fire up when spout is disconnected and I think I’ve seen people disconnect the spout before spotlighting their timing marks. I’ve got a timing light but it’s not the easiest to see down there in perfect alignment. With belts and hoses back in place. I marked it while changing the water pump from a bolt leak.
Car sit in carport for several years before we got it going again. About 100k miles but inside head of distributor didn’t look good enough to keep. I already had it to a point where It fired up and ran better that known and only looked at the timing light a little.
It should fire with spout off am I right?

 

[96blak54]

Yes it should start and idle decent with the spout off. If you have to, sand prep the balancers timing marks and color them in with a bright paint marker or paint of some sort like white or silver. The marks will literally glow with the timing light. Helps out alot.

 

[duh09]

Did you replace the distributor? I had a hard time getting timing right once and was a tooth off and needed to pull and restab to get it where I needed it to get timing right and have room to adjust as needed.

Even if the timing is off a handful of degrees, it should still start and run with the spout out.

Make sure you’re shooting for 10* before top dead center, not after.

Once the spout is in, your timing will move around based on a handful of parameters from the ECU- that’s normal. You should only be worried about seeing that 10* with spout out.

You can do a lot of timing by feel, without really using the light. If you’re having issues getting it to start with spout out, you may want to try some adjusting until it will crank and run and then pull the light out to get it dialed in.

One more thing, it’s very possible that the timing marks have slipped on the balancer. The balancers have a rubber lining connecting the inner section to the outer, and when that rubber starts to deteriorate it’s possible for that outer ring to slip some. May check the balancer out and make sure it looks solid. I’ve about gotten to the point that I slap on a new one everytime I end up with a new 5.0 car.

 

[jacobn4056.]

Yes it should start and idle decent with the spout off. If you have to, sand prep the balancers timing marks and color them in with a bright paint marker or paint of some sort like white or silver. The marks will literally glow with the timing light. Helps out alot.

I put on some bright white craft paint. It’s still there. I think I should look back into this. I’d hate to run my pump dry but hoses are in the way of the gun I have

 

[jacobn4056.]

I’m all ears for a step by step. I’ll tell you if there’s something off

 

[jacobn4056.]

I have the Hayes book. But I didn’t follow it. Car runs well. Too well to fool with. But I want to know it’s right
And I’m not certain it’s right.

 

[Musturd]

I have the Hayes book. But I didn’t follow it. Car runs well. Too well to fool with. But I want to know it’s right
And I’m not certain it’s right.

Make this make sense . The car runs well too well to fool with but you want to make sure it’s right . Honestly reading the timing marks on small block ford ain’t that hard .

 

[jacobn4056.]

Make this make sense . The car runs well too well to fool with but you want to make sure it’s right . Honestly reading the timing marks on small block ford ain’t that hard .

Well good morning!
Yeah I’ll try to recap.

I did not confirm timing with my light

The distributor is installed perfectly other than that. I’m starting to have the idea that I marked 10 after and that’s why my light was useless. I’m going to double check this morning

 

[Musturd]

You can’t confirm the distributor is installed perfectly with out verifying with a timing light . The car could start up fine and still be way out of time . Secondly like others mentioned the harmonic balancers on these cars like to go bad . Check if it’s wobbling or the rubber is starting to come out of it . They like to spin on the hub .

 

[RAU03MACH]

I have the Hayes book. But I didn’t follow it. Car runs well. Too well to fool with. But I want to know it’s right
And I’m not certain it’s right.

if the car is running well why mess with it
not broken dont fix it

 

[jacobn4056.]

I had the mark right.

 

[jacobn4056.]

I also have a cheap set of wires on here and the light hardly reads them. I have to fiddle the wire to get a read

 

[Musturd]

I had the mark right.View attachment 32373

Dude your balancer is fucked you can see the rubber coming out the back

 

[Musturd]

With out a doubt the balancer has spun the rubbers coming out that balancer is going to come off and cause you a world of problems if you don’t replace it asap .

 

[RAU03MACH]

Dam good eye there mustard

 

[Musturd]

They call me eagle eyes

 

[joemomma]

How difficult is it to replace a balancer? Never done it, and y'all have me questioning mine.

 

[weendoggy]

Yep, balancer crap. Plus, you have enough paint on it to never get it accurate.

 

[Finn]

How difficult is it to replace a balancer? Never done it, and y'all have me questioning mine.

Not difficult at all. It was one of the first things we did on my -95. IIRC it was a bit tight for ratchet and socket with radiator on but eventually it went OK.

 

[weendoggy]

How difficult is it to replace a balancer? Never done it, and y'all have me questioning mine.

Easy. Pull the belts off, remove any pulley's and the big bolt in the center of the balancer, rent a puller (if you don't have one), remove the damn thing, rent a press tool (if you don't have one) to reinstall the new one (use some light oil or antisieze on the crankshaft to ease install), torque the bolt (rent a torque wrench if you don't have one), then replace things in reverse order. Easy peasy! Got lots of room on these things. TaDa!!